The US singer and X Factor judge opened up in a Behind The Music special for VH1, admitting that she started struggling with the eating disorder in 2003 when she was still a member of the Pussycat Dolls.

The 34-year-old said the Formula 1 star helped her win her eight-year battle and "end that disorder and that disease", reports Us Weekly.

Nicole, who has been dating Lewis for over four years, said: "He made me feel beautiful for who I am and not what pant size I'm wearing and that helped a lot."

She went on: "A little light came on in the back of my head and that's when I started to try and turn this around. I said, 'Wow, I've got to learn how to accept myself and my body.' I started to embrace myself as a woman and my curves."

The star had revealed that her eating disorder was like her "addiction".

She said: "I never did drugs, but kinda doing things to myself was my addiction. It's like when I got offstage, I was on this high, and I'd come back to my room and I'd be alone, so I would just do things. My bulimia was my addiction. Hurting myself was my addiction."